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Algebra Difficulty 6.7 National olympiad Prove it Mongolia

Let R>0={xRx>0}\mathbb{R}_{>0} = \{x \in \mathbb{R} \mid x > 0\} denote the set of positive real numbers.
Find all pairs f,g:R>0R>0f, g: \mathbb{R}_{>0} \to \mathbb{R}_{>0} of functions satisfying
f(g(x))=f(x)g(x),f(x)=x(1+g(x)) f(g(x)) = f(x)g(x), \quad f(x) = x(1 + g(x))
and such that the sequence g(x),g(g(x)),g(g(g(x))),g(x), g(g(x)), g(g(g(x))), \dots takes finitely many different values for all xR>0x \in \mathbb{R}_{>0}.

Solution

Answer: f(x)=x+1f(x) = x + 1 and g(x)=1/xg(x) = 1/x.
The pair above is a solution. In order to prove that there is no other solution, fix xR>0x \in \mathbb{R}_{>0} and denote g0=xg^0 = x and gn=g(gn1)g^n = g(g^{n-1}) for n1n \ge 1.
We have g(x)(1+g(g(x)))=f(g(x))=f(x)g(x)=x(1+g(x))g(x)g(x)(1 + g(g(x))) = f(g(x)) = f(x)g(x) = x(1 + g(x))g(x). Since g(x)0g(x) \ne 0, we have 1+g2=x(1+g)1 + g^2 = x(1 + g). This can be rewritten as
gg21=(xg1)(1+g). gg^2 - 1 = (xg - 1)(1 + g).
Then g2g31=(gg21)(1+g2)=(xg1)(1+g)(1+g2)g^2g^3 - 1 = (gg^2 - 1)(1 + g^2) = (xg - 1)(1 + g)(1 + g^2) and more generally
gngn+11=(gn1gn1)(1+gn)=(xg1)(1+g)(1+g2)(1+gn) g^n g^{n+1} - 1 = (g^{n-1}g^n - 1)(1 + g^n) = (xg - 1)(1 + g)(1 + g^2) \dots (1 + g^n)
for any n1n \ge 1 by induction. There is n>mn > m with gn=gmg^n = g^m by assumption. Then we have
(xg1)(1+g)(1+gm)((1+gm+1)(1+gn)1)=0. (xg - 1)(1 + g) \dots (1 + g^m) ((1 + g^{m+1}) \dots (1 + g^n) - 1) = 0.
Since gk>0g^k > 0, we must have xg1=0xg - 1 = 0. It follows that g=1/xg = 1/x and f=x+1f = x + 1.

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